Did Sehwag’s knock take ODIs closer to T20? What now?

These are the facts - the hard facts, untouched by politics or vested interests.

Test cricket is struggling in most parts of the world. ODI cricket is getting monotonous. And what do we say about Twenty20?

Tests still draw a good crowd in England and Australia. ODIs still work in the sub-continent. And what do we say about Twenty20?

Tests are about technique, class and history. ODIs are stuck in a middle ground that no one really cares about. And what do we say about Twenty20, except perhaps that it’s complete madness?

At the core of any great sport lies its capability to excite you, to shock you, by being different from anything else around you. You need a unique charm that you associate with just that sport. So when a sport has different formats or versions, they attempt to do the same – to create a separate identity from the main branch.

When Sehwag hit that brilliant, amazing 219 against the West Indies at Indore, one couldn’t help but wonder what did his knock mean in the larger scheme of things; what did it mean to ODI cricket - was it a game changer?

There are many who would have called Sehwag’s knock Bradmanesque or even Tendulkaresque but the truth is that the innings was T20esque. It was exactly the way T20 cricket is played – Sehwag went after the bowling incessantly, without mercy.

In trying to carve out a separate identity, ODI cricket has moved away from Tests and stumbled straight into T20 territory. Why, they even have new balls from each end, which in essence means that the ball can never be more than 25 overs old.

That, in a nutshell, is the problem that ODIs are facing. It wasn’t always that way though.

When the first one-day international was played on 5 January 1971, no one playing that match had a sense that they were creating history. Rain had washed out the Test between England and Australia. So to spread some cheer among the spectators, an ODI was played.

“The thing I remember most is that we won the game and it was no big deal as it was an exhibition game as the Test was washed out. There was no sense of history making,” Australian wicket-keeper Rodney Marsh later said.

Indeed, few knew what they had stumbled into. And even fewer knew what to make of it. Take, for example, Sunil Gavaskar’s dull drawl through 60 overs to score 36. As someone tweeted, if the Indian great had continued to bat in the same manner, he would have taken him 1,059 balls to reach 219.

Yet, that innings played a huge part in the evolution of the game because it showed you what not to do.

But then things started to slowly come around. During the same World Cup, Glenn Turner smashed an unbeaten 171 against lowly East Africa. By the time 1979 came around, West Indies had evolved into a fearsome unit and, in the likes of Collis King and Viv Richards, they appeared tailor-made for the new format. They pushed the limits once more.

Come 1983, Kapil Dev happened and it only showed that a match is never quite over in ODIs. Richards in 1984, though, proved that in ODIs there was a licence to kill. His 189 not out against England was a record that stood for 14 years; for 14 years it was where everyone wanted to be.

There was one man who got close, very close. Gary Kirsten scored 188 not out against UAE in the 1996 World Cup. But his innings is part of this evolution story simply because of the manner in which he batted. His knock had just 13 boundaries and four sixes. When you compare it to Sehwag’s 25 fours and seven sixes, it’s clear how his knock showed the value of singles and twos.

In between, there were the likes of Mark Greatbatch, who during the 1992 World Cup raised the art of aggression to an art. He would charge out of his crease while facing up to the likes of Curtly Ambrose - and that takes guts. Now, everyone does it.

When Sachin Tendulkar opened the innings against New Zealand in Auckland in 1994, his 82 off a mere 49 balls changed the way we looked at the opening slot because it suddenly became the most important batting position in ODIs.

During the 1996 World Cup, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana showed that what one can do, two can do better. Rather than the solitary pinch hitter – like say Kris Srikkanth – both the Sri Lankan openers went for their shots. And it paid off spectacularly.

Thereafter the evolution has been about batsmen getting more aggressive and little else. Then T20 came into the picture and the chains were completely unshackled. The top three individual scores in ODIs have all come in the last three years – in 2009, Charles Coventry hit 194 not out; in 2010; Tendulkar hit the first double century; in 2011 came Sehwag’s knock.

The bigger the scores get the more ODIs veer towards T20 and is that what the International Cricket Council really wants? Sehwag’s knock was expected – in the sense that if it was not him, it would be someone else. But it just shows that the lines between T20 and ODIs are blurred even more.

But for us to remember Sehwag’s record in 10 years’ time, ODIs will need to survive for that line. And that can only happen if either ODIs or T20 start evolving on a completely different path. So for the moment, the question is – who’ll blink first?